


Can I Call You Tonight?

by Onthewayyyy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action/Adventure, Arguing, Character Death, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship, Jealousy, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-02-25 16:41:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 19,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22499233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onthewayyyy/pseuds/Onthewayyyy
Summary: At Slughorn's party, sparks fly and realizations are made. But just how long will it take these two smart idiots to figure it out? Who knows honestly.
Relationships: Albus Dumbledore & Harry Potter, Harry Potter & Ron Weasley, Harry Potter & Severus Snape, Hermione Granger & Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger/Harry Potter
Comments: 26
Kudos: 153





	1. Heart Don't Stand a Chance

**Author's Note:**

> I've always loved this pairing, I'm a huge HP fan. Hopefully I do the ship justice. This will take place during HBP when Harry is forced to go to Slughorn's Christmas Party. Now, in canon he takes Luna (whom I love). But what if Hermione had smartened up and realized that asking McLaggin was a terrible idea? Harry just happens to be in the room, lucky boy.

_"McLaggin!"_

_The handsome young man turned, startled at first but quickly sported a grin to rival the cheshire cat at the sight of who called his name._

_"Yes Granger?" He said, cockily._

_Hermione fought back a frustrated sigh, "How would you like to come with me to Slughorn's party?" She asked._

_"Finally come to your senses eh?" Cormac grinned. "Well, I accept."_

_Thank Merlin for that, it wasn't so bad._

_"Meet me there at 8pm sharp, oh and, wear something nice will you?"_

_Aaaannddddd he ruined it._

_Hermione merely nodded and left, fearing that she would say something scathing to scare the man off. At least it was sure to make Ron mad._

* * *

And that, was how Hermione hoped it would go. Time would only tell, potions didn't end for another hour and after that she had double charms. Her chance wouldn't come until later that night, which was fine by her. The more she could put this off the better. Even thinking about having to spend an evening with that man made Hermione want to throw up. Did she really have to do this? Was making Ron jealous that important to her? A small, evil part of her brain shouted _yes!_ as loud as it could, while the rational side took over. 

_There's no way you can go through an entire evening with that git, he'll grope you countless times over until the night is up. Besides, being petty just isn't you!_

Grudgingly, she had to concede the point. But who to take? 

"Ms. Granger?"

Startled by Slughorn's voice, she nearly knocked her entire potion over on the floor, a few snickers from the Slytherin's could be heard in the corner of the classroom. 

Blushing, she answered, "Y-yes, sir?" 

"Well I was merely asking about the benefits of adding cowbane to your potion?" The professor said. 

_Oh no! She wasn't paying attention to what she was doing at all!_

"Er, well you see Professor, my head must have been elsewhere, I honestly don't know what I was thinking." Hermione said, trying to explain herself.

"Indeed." Slughorn said sadly, a trace of disappointment in his voice. 

Well that put a damper on her mood a bit, but her spirits lifted slightly at Harry's concerned look. 

"Are you alright?" He asked, emerald eyes swimming with worry. 

Smiling a little despite her screw up, she nodded at him. 

And then it came to her.

She should ask _Harry._ Yes, that was perfect. Sweet, kind Harry. Surely he'd say yes. Purely as friends, of course. Besides, Hermione figured taking _any_ boy would royally piss Ron off, so it was a win win. She would have an enjoyable night with a friend, and make another jealous. 

Her smile grew just a tad, and Harry turned away to focus back on his potion, which of course was flawless thanks to the Prince's help. The rest of the day was a blur for Hermione until dinner, but when it came, it brought an unusual feeling to Hermione. 

She was _nervous._ Hermione was rarely nervous, so when it did happen, it threw her off like nothing else could. This was _ridiculous,_ it was only Harry. 

_A Harry who's certainly grown in all the right places._ A treacherous part of her mind said.

 _Shut up._ She told it. 

* * *

Dinner was eventful to say the least; there was nothing particular out of the ordinary, the Great Hall was as noisy as ever, Ron was currently stuffing his face, all was normal. And then it happened, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted one Hermione Granger marching towards the table with a look of determination on her face.

No, towards _him_. 

What did he do to deserve this?

She stopped right in front of him, which caused a few of the other Gryffindors to shoot odd looks at the two of them.

"Harry," she began sweetly. (Since when did Hermione talk like this?) "With Slughorn's party coming up, and seeing as neither of us have a date, I was wondering if you'd like to accompany me to it?" 

He noticed her sweet facade falter slightly when he didn't answer immediately, "That is, if you want to of course, I know you hate these sort of things, I just figured you'd rather go with someone you know, seeing as you have no Quidditch practices scheduled or a meeting with Professor Dumbledore, which I couldn't help but notice, of course." She rambled, bright red by the end of her rant. 

"Of course." He joked, a small smile on his lips. "I'd love to go with you Hermione, it beats having to actually ask someone I barely know." 

Hermione let out a sigh of relief, shoulders sagging. "Oh thank Merlin, I thought for a moment there you'd say no." 

Harry just looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Say no? Who in their right mind would reject you?" 

The raven haired boy would never know it, but his words made the other girls stomach do a flip. To his question, she did not have an answer, merely another blush, and a mumbled "Thanks."

A little stunned at the events himself, Harry barely registered the clap on his back from Neville, a "Nice going Harry." accompanying it. He shot a glance at Ron, and at his furious look, Harry merely shrugged. It's not like he _wanted_ to make Ron mad but, Hermione and him had been fighting a lot this year, and the party could be a nice change of pace. Besides, Ron was already going out with Lavender, who was trying (and failing) to recapture her boyfriends attention. He had no reason to be mad at Harry.

He had a feeling that his meeting with Dumbledore tonight would not compare. 

* * *

"Well Harry, what do you make of it?" 

The young man thought for a moment, eyes never leaving the pensieve. 

"Tom wanted the locket, thought he'd find it there." Harry began. "Once he got what he needed, there was no use to keep Morfin around, so he framed him. Nobody would think twice about it either."

"Indeed," Albus Dumbledore nodded. **"Whatever Morfin was, he did not deserve to die as he did, blamed for the murders he had not committed."**

Harry couldn't help but agree with the Headmaster, what Riddle did was cruel, but unsurprising.

The night went on, the professor explained how he obtained the true memory, why Morfins went black at the end, and how badly Riddle truly set the man up. Finally, Dumbledore gave Harry the important task of securing Slughorn's true memory of what he told a younger Riddle all those years ago. 

"I am unsure whether it would be best to catch him off guard or ease him into it." He told Harry in regards to obtaining the memory. 

"Well, sir, he has a Christmas party coming up and I'm attending. Maybe then?" The younger wizard suggested. 

"Ah yes," Dumbledore mused. "He likes to do that. Yes that could be a possibility, if not to get the memory then to at least get closer to him." He paused briefly before speaking again. "Forgive me Harry but don't you need a date for that particular event?" 

Harry rubbed the back of his neck in slight embarrassment, "Yes sir, but I've already got one."

"Ah, Miss Weasley?" The older man guessed. 

"Err no, reckon she'd be going with Dean. I'm going with Hermione." Harry explained. 

Albus was confused, as what Harry was saying now conflicted with statements from a previous session, but he wisely didn't speak on it.

"Miss Granger then? I'm sure that will be an enjoyable evening." He mused. "A word of advice, the mistletoe often appears when one least expects it, I would keep my eyes peeled if I were you."

Harry blushed but said nothing else, merely nodding in acknowledgment. 

They said their goodbyes, and Harry departed back to his common room. 

_Oh to be young and in love_ He thought, a smile on his face. 

* * *

**AN**

**Usually I put these in the notes but when starting a multiple chapter fic I'm still a bit unclear with the notes, having previously had an issue where the end note stuck around on each chapter. For that reason, I'll put it here.**

**A couple of things, I know that this meeting in the book doesn't happen until the 6th of January, however, as with all my other stories I'll be taking some** **liberties with the timeline and certain events. This is meant to be a pretty self contained fic, no huge plot, just two idiots falling in love. So with that, hopefully my shifting of the timeline is excusable. The bolded line that Dumbledore speaks is directly from the book itself, I thought it was quite good, too good to pass up. Plus I'm a tad lazy. Hopefully I didn't mess up any British terms (from the few that I used), I am Canadian, so I wouldn't really know with 100% certainty I'm using them correctly. From what I gathered from the books and other fics, I might be doing decent lol. Finally, I hope the characters are, well, in character. It's hard to know with Harry, or any of the HP characters, for me at least. Hope you all enjoyed and reviews are always appreciated!**

**P.S I can't totally remember if a date was even required for Slughorn's party, but if it wasn't, I'm making it so. Heh.**


	2. Get It Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More and more weird happenings occur in the lead up to Slughorn's Christmas party, at least if you asked Hermione and Harry. To everyone else, it seemed that finally things were starting to move along. Unfortunately, the pair still can't figure it out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I change a few things from canon, and I apologize in advance. Slughorn's Christmas party was not a dance, changing that this time around. It's still not necessarily just a dance, people still mingle like in the book, just wanted to incorporate as I feel it opens more opportunities. Also, I am pretty sure that Hermione says Harry's "never been more fanciable" a bit more before the party, but again, I'm changing it, and you'll see how. Really it's just a different a slightly different scene. Can you tell I have no idea what I'm doing yet? As always, reviews are greatly appreciated, they motivate me to write more!

The next day came, and like all new developments in Hogwarts, the news of Harry and Hermione attending the party together spread like wildfire. Hermione had experienced this before of course, the stories wrote about the two of them during fourth year, and when she went with Viktor to the Yule Ball. Normally, this attention wouldn't bother her. Glares from Romilda Vane and her posse didn't matter much, but the comments she picked up whilst studying in the library that made her seethe in silence. 

Behind the cover of bookshelves, but still talking obnoxiously louder than necessary, Hermione overheard multiple conversations. 

"How could he ever choose to go with someone like _her?"_

"It's not enough that they're best friends, they have to date now too?" 

"I'm convinced she slipped him a love potion, there's no way anybody would willingly deal with _that_ personality."

It was all just _too_ much, her jealousy over Ron, the fighting with Harry, a war looming over them, and now _this._ Packing up her things with frightening speed, she stormed out of the library, barely walking five feet before barreling into someone. Hermione nearly toppled the poor person, she moved to quickly grab her belongings and mumbled out an apology. 

"Well it's fine Hermione, just give a guy a warning next time, yeah?" Came the person's response.

Eyes wide Hermione realized who she had just nearly body checked to the ground. 

"Harry!" She whisper-yelled, mortified. "I'm so sorry!" 

The bespectacled boy was clearly holding back a chuckle, "As I said, it's fine. Where were you off to in such a hurry?"

She meant to huff indignantly at his stupid grin, but then it all came back to her. Did she tell him? Hermione didn't really want to cause a scene, because surely Harry would be irate if he knew. Unfortunately for her, just as that train of thought finishing, the truth came flooding out of her anyway. And just like she predicted, he looked furious. 

"Love potion," he growled. "As if you'd need one." 

_What?_

The boy-who-lived's face turned red at the implications of his words. 

"W-well what I meant was that, er, someone would be barmy to turn you down 'Mione." He rushed to explain himself. 

Both teens stood awkwardly for a moment, before realizing that they were in the middle of the hallway. 

After moving out of the way, Harry spoke, "Did you actually manage to study at all?"

"Not really," she admitted sadly. 

"Well what about the room of requirement? We can just turn it into our own little study place." He suggested.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Hermione exclaimed.

Harry merely shrugged, "I dunno, probably because I'm obviously smarter than you." He tapped the side of his head to accentuate the point. 

She punched his arm lightly, "You wish, Potter." 

He gave her a lopsided grin, and they made their way to the seventh floor. Walking closer together than strictly necessary, fingers nearly brushing unconsciously with each stride. This time she was able to ignore the talking from nearby students with little effort.

* * *

As the days went on, Hermione was being surprised more and more. 

During potions, Slughorn had given them a laughing potion to brew, as they worked to complete it, Hermione couldn't help but notice Harry's work. Compared to some of the other's in the class, his wasn't absolutely perfect for once. Granted, he didn't have a lot of competition. Draco stared at his potion with disinterest, he was looking even paler than normal these days. Terry Boot was eyeing his work warily, and Ron's looked ready to explode as per usual. 

_Ron_. She had been thinking about him less and less, which Hermione supposed was a good thing. It still hurt sometimes to see him with Lavender, but the pain was lessening each time. Honestly, she acted so stupidly. Ron could be a great friend, but how could she have ever had feelings like _that_ for him?

"Alright, that's quite enough I think!" Came Slughorn's booming voice.

Perfect timing too, as she had just finished. One by one the class gave the professor their samples, awaiting his judgement. 

"Now who would like to test it out? Anyone?" Slughorn asked, frowning at the lack of volunteers. "Very well, Mr. Potter! I Believe you'll be my guinea pig for today."

Harry's face showed a slight amount of panic, but he trudged forward regardless. 

"Now depending on how well you've done, our young Harry here should be in stitches soon." He announced.

The first two potions, Ron and Draco's, didn't make Harry laugh at all. In fact, he looked quite sad after taking them. The professor looked at them with disappointment, "P." He stated, writing the mark down. 

A few more got giggles out of him, but nothing more. It was a strange sight to behold, she'd seen him laugh of course, but never _giggle._ One got a full on guffaw from him, and finally, it came down to his and Hermione's potions. 

Harry's laughing potion made him laugh so hard he cried, and Slughorn gave an approving nod and a word of praise. 

"Impressive m'boy, that's a well earned E!" He said. 

Hermione frowned, Harry never scored that low, at least not this year. The professor looked a little let down too, but hid it pretty well.

At last, when it came to hers, Harry was doubled over on the floor nearly howling with laughter. 

"Oh ho! An O if I ever saw one! Well done Ms. Granger." The potion master said. 

She couldn't help but beam, Ron looked a little upset, but didn't say anything about it and eventually left to go to dinner. Hermione waited for Harry as it took him a while to recover from the effects of the potion. He looked at the professor as the older man whistled a jaunty tune while cleaning and restocking his stores, she had a hunch on what he was thinking.

Hermione went up to him and whispered in his ear, "Not now, we should plan for this."

She almost thought he'd just ignore her, thankfully he moved along out of the classroom. Harry had of course told her and Ron about the memory, and as with everything, his general plan was to just wing it. Hermione felt guilty for thinking like that, but it was the truth. As noble and brave as he was, Harry was abysmal at planning ahead. 

"I should have tried it then," He said, frustration creeping into his voice. "Why'd you stop me?" 

"If you had asked then, it would have scared him off and made it significantly harder for the next attempt. You've got to be smart for this Harry." She said. He scowled at her a little but she continued on anyway. "Deep down I think you know it too, otherwise there's no way I could have dragged you out of there." 

His shoulders sagged in defeat, "Yeah I reckon you're right." 

_Well that wasn't so bad._

Hermione was grateful to avoid a fight, growing sick of arguing with Harry, especially over silly things, it made her feel terrible. Speaking of silly things....

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened during class, I thought for sure you'd get an O." She said as they weaved through students to get into the Great Hall for dinner. "Surely the book couldn't have been wrong?" 

Harry looked a little embarrassed as he spoke, "Ah, you see, I um. Well it's probably best I just show you." Pulling out his bag as they sat together at dinner, he retrieved a brand new looking potions books from it. "I put in an order for a new one, still have the Prince's book of course, too useful to throw away but, yeah." He said to explain himself. 

It took every ounce of her willpower to not pull him into a bone crushing hug right then and there. 

She struggled to find words, thankfully Harry continued on anyway. 

"I'm sick of fighting with you over it, so I won't use it anymore in class." 

Hermione beamed at him, which made it all worth it in his mind. 

"I'm glad Harry, and I'm also sorry for the way I treated you, it was very unfair of me." She said.

Hermione had thought that he'd look away in further embarrassment, but his green eyes held her own as he accepted her apology. His intense gaze took her breath away.

"Thank you," he said sincerely. "Bloody relieved we could move past this." And then Harry did something he'd never done before.

He hugged her. Oh they had hugged before, but it was always her who initiated it. As quick as it came, he pulled away. All throughout dinner she tried to suppress the growing smile on her face. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to note that I understand that the timeline might be confusing as I change events around and honestly the Hogwarts schedule confuses me so much. Please be patient with me, I hope this is merely a minor annoyance, if one at all.


	3. Almost (Sweet Music)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which two friends dance, and start to see each other as more than just friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sometimes do evil things for fun, plus it adds to the drama. Heh

_"Sweet music playing in the dark, be still my foolish heart, don't ruin this on me."_

* * *

As the Christmas part rapidly approached, Hermione grew more and more nervous. It was ridiculous, this was only Harry!

_Right?_

More and more she found herself looking like a fool in front of him. Hermione had overflowed her potion while staring at him while he worked, afterwards she felt like a total creep. She had also been stunned by Neville during a DADA class when she noticed he was trying to help Ron out with his nonverbal spells. 

It was maddening, like what was happening with Ron, but ten times worse. When she and Harry had a free period, it would be spent together on a couch in the room of requirement. This of course, caused more rumours to spread. More rumours meant more death glares everywhere Hermione went from girls she barely knew. Every time it happened, it made her huff in annoyance. 

_Honestly, it's not like we're dating._

She shook her head, trying to rid herself of those thoughts. Now _that_ was not something to think about. 

At the moment, Hermione was wandering through Hogsmeade, it was her last chance to get a dress for the event, as she only had the previous one she wore for the Yule Ball. The mere sight of the dress brought back unpleasant memories, so Hermione felt that a new one was in order. She had the money to spare, hopefully. Originally, Ginny was to accompany her but those plans were scrapped in favour of the red head enjoying the evening with her boyfriend. Hermione didn't mind, at least it meant no questions about Harry. 

Unfortunately, there wasn't really another option for a place to shop for her garment other than Gladrags, which didn't really carry anything cheap. Hermione would just have to make do. When she entered, the clerk gave her a polite nod and then continued on reading his copy of the prophet. There was faint music playing from the wireless next to him, something she of course didn't recognize.

Hermione browsed for a while, seeing a plethora of dresses, some to her liking, others, not so much. Frowning at a periwinkle dress that would show _far_ too much of her legs, Hermione kept searching. It didn't take long to find one that made her eyes widen. A deep blue off the shoulder maxi dress. It was wonderful, and she thought the blue would compliment her.

The mirror seemed to agree, as when she was finished trying it on, the enchanted object said, "You look breathtaking my dear." 

"Thank you." Hermione replied, quite pleased with the find. 

Leaving the store, Hermione barely got out the door when she was nearly knocked over by someone speed walking quite aggressively. At first she made to yell at the person, only to realize that it was _Harry._ Looking further she could see that he was trying to catch up to Theodore Nott. The Slytherin boy wasn't trying to get away from Harry, so it was likely that he didn't even know he was being followed.

Sighing at the raven haired boy's antics, Hermione gave pursuit.

* * *

They had not spoken a word since returning from Hogsmeade. When Hermione had caught up to Harry and stopped him, it didn't really go her way. For one, Harry lost sight of Nott, allowing the Slytherin boy to unknowingly slip away from his stalker. This proved to only make Harry mad at her, which she found herself not liking one bit, especially because of the lack of arguments between the two recently. Finally, there was the small detail of her being annoyed at his obsession with Draco that clouded her better judgement in the tone and words she used when reprimanding Harry.

_"Honestly Harry, why would he tell Nott of all people? It doesn't make much sense." She pointed out._

_"How should I know? I'm not a Slytherin, just thought I'd follow him around, maybe see something suspicious." He defended himself._

_Hermione sighed in exasperation, "Not all of Slytherin house is like Malfoy, Nott is usually quite reserved." She said._

_Harry just plowed on ahead, not giving any indication that he'd heard her despite being well within earshot._

Once they had reached the castle and passed through Filch's check, Harry tried to speed up and leave her behind, clearly still not over their little spat from earlier. Not one to be treated like that, she followed closely behind him.

"You can't just act like a child when you're proven wrong!" Hermione called out after him, stopping in her stride when she noticed the furious look on his face. "Listen, I will admit there's something suspicious going on with Malfoy, but for you to be tailing someone that's merely in his house is ridiculous." There was a pause before she added on, "I'm sorry for calling you a child, it wasn't very kind of me." 

He looked like he wanted to say something, but the anger on his face disappeared, and his shoulders slumped in defeat. 

"S'okay," Harry said. "Reckon you're right anyway, I'm just so _frustrated_ with it all. Nobody believes me; Dumbledore just tells me to not think on it, Ron laughs it off when I bring it up, and every time we talked about it, we argued. I _hate_ arguing with you." He mumbled. 

Her heart broke a little at his words, "Me too. And if it helps, I _do_ believe something is going on. It's just that to me, Draco being a full fledged Death Eater is a little too crazy."

Harry nodded at her, accepting the opinion. Favouring Hermione with a small smile, he spoke.

"You want to study in the room? I finished up an essay for Herbology that you can look at for me if you'd like, need to finish up Snape's essay as well." He sighed, remembering what the professor asked of the class. "One bloody foot of parchment on Inferi, I mean, how much is there to really say about magical zombies?" 

Hermione was tempted to actually tell him, but instead just smiled and gave the boy a nod. 

"I'll look over that Herbology." She said, happy to check it over. 

_It was probably a bad thing she found it so fun, oh well._

* * *

The time had come, Slughorn's party was today. Despite her nerves, Hermione was quite excited at the prospect of spending more time with Harry, not that she'd admit it out loud. It was quite refreshing honestly, her crush on Ron, forgotten, it felt like things were finally getting back to normal. 

_Now all I need is a near death experience and this year will be set._

She chuckled at her slightly morbid joke, and headed down into the common room. Harry, was not there yet, which she didn't mind. His hair was probably worse than her's when it came to grooming, so Hermione couldn't fault him. She wasn't alone for long, but it wasn't her date that came down to meet her, it was Ginny, looking as radiant as ever.

"Hermione! You look gorgeous!" 

It was hard not to be excited when in the red head's presence, so despite herself, she giggled. 

"Thanks Gin, you look beautiful." Hermione replied. "Dean not down yet either?" She asked. 

"Nope." Came Ginny's response, popping the "p" for added effect. So the two girls waited, and after what seemed like an eternity, Harry came down the stairs.

He looked quite handsome, she admitted, blushing slightly. Disheveled, but that appearance worked well for him. 

"Hello." Hermione said, meeting his eyes. 

"Hi." Harry responded. "You, er, you look very pretty." 

She knew how hard it was for Harry to communicate what he was feeling, especially when it came to members of the opposite sex, so she accepted the compliment graciously. 

_And by graciously she meant blushing even harder like a love-struck school girl._

Ginny elbowed Harry to get him moving, taking the hint, he held his arm out for her to grab onto, and they made their way to the party. 

"Have fun!" Ginny called after them, a wicked smile on her face. 

When they finally got there, the party was in full swing. People were dancing as loud music from the wireless played, the room must have been enchanted to be bigger, which she honestly wanted to know about how it was managed, but decided to just enjoy the moment. Slughorn was already a bit tipsy, as his greeting was slightly slurred and his voice louder than necessary. Harry took it all in stride which was impressive on it's own, even more so when the potions professor started dragging them around to meet a bunch of his friends and acquaintances. They met a vampire, curse breaker, and a star quidditch player that Harry freaked out about a little. Eventually Slughorn left them alone near the punch bowl, wandering off towards a slightly terrified looking Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass, both of whom were trying very hard not to be seen by the host of the party.

Hermione swore she saw Neville serving drinks, and she also saw McLaggin glaring daggers at an unsuspecting Harry. The unwanted stares were starting to make her a little anxious, this was amplified by the fact that she and Harry hadn't spoken much the entire time. The two of them were obviously nervous, but what for? They were _best friends_ for Merlin's sake! They shouldn't be too nervous to even have a conversation. She was about to voice this when the black form of Professor Snape swept over to them, he ignored Hermione but addressed Harry.

"Oh no need to get so stiff Potter I'm only here to convey a message." said Snape, sounding vaguely annoyed at having to talk with Harry. 

"A message?" Harry questioned.

"Yes, from Professor Dumbledore, he wants me to give you his best wishes, you see he's travelling and won't be back until term resumes." 

"Travelling where?"

Snape merely stared blankly at Harry for a few seconds before walking away, robes billowing behind him. 

"Professor!" Slughorn's slurred voice rang out. **“Stop skulking and come and join us, Severus!” hiccuped Slughorn happily. “I was just talking about Harry’s exceptional potion-making! Some credit must go to you, of course, you taught him for five years!”**

Snape turned around and **looked down his hooked nose at Harry, his black eyes narrowed. “Funny, I never had the impression that I managed to teach Potter anything at all.”**

**“Well, then, it’s natural ability!” shouted Slughorn. “You should have seen what he gave me, first lesson, Draught of Living Death — never had a student produce finer on a first attempt, I don’t think even you, Severus —”**

"Yes yes, thank you Horace, but if you don't mind, I have essay's to grade." Snape said, cutting the portly man off. Shooting Harry one more suspicious look, the man left. 

"Well that wasn't awkward." Harry joked, earning a smile from Hermione. 

Taking a deep breath, she posed a question to him. 

"Harry, would you like to dance with me?" 

The green eyed wizard gulped, but nodded regardless of his trepidation. Understandable considering the last time he went to something like this it wasn't exactly a fun experience. 

Even with all this, the pair managed to have a good time. After a few small setbacks with Harry accidentally stepping on Hermione's toes a few times, it became enjoyable. A wide smile was on Harry's face almost the entire time, which caused butterflies in her stomach. The two danced and danced until one of the more faster songs came to an end, both teens were standing near a corner in the room, stupid smiles plastered on their faces. Something green caught Hermione's eye from above, and what she saw made the butterflies even worse. 

Mistletoe.

Harry followed her eyesight and his expression mirrored her's, mild terror. It was only brief however, as they both looked down and locked eyes. 

"I-I, um-" Harry sputtered. "Uh, what do we do?" 

"Traditionally, we're supposed to kiss, I believe." Hermione answered, not quite knowing where her words were even coming from. 

"Is it just normal mistletoe?" He asked. 

"If you mean we won't be forced to, then yes, it's normal." She replied, voice calm in spite of their current situation.

Harry stood there, clearly unsure of what to do next.

"I'm not moving Harry." She said softly, blushing bright red at her _very_ brave choice of words. 

_Wait, where was this even coming from?_

Hermione felt rooted to the spot, unable to move, and not really wanting to either. These last few weeks with him had been _incredible,_ and deep down she knew that the butterflies in her stomach were not just a one night only thing, it had been happening for a while. 

His eyes flicked down to her lips, and back up to her eyes. 

_Was he going to-?_

"I-" he began, but was cut off.

The door to the room busted open as Filch entered, dragging a struggling Draco Malfoy along.

"Caught this one trying to sneak in professor." The caretaker said. 

The music had stopped and all the party goers were watching the exchange. Slughorn looked a bit shocked, but recovered fast. 

"Well that's quite alright Argus, no need to strangle the boy." He chuckled. 

"On the contrary," came a cool voice. Snape had returned, and regarded Malfoy more coldly than even Harry. "This is quite serious, I'll take the boy from here Argus, he belongs to my house after all." 

Grudgingly, Filch let Malfoy go, and it was Snape's turn to drag him out of there. It didn't take too long for the party to start up again. 

When Hermione looked back to Harry, expecting him to finish what he was going to say from earlier, she found him staring at the door. He took a step towards it before she grabbed him by the arm. 

"Harry James Potter, if you leave right now to go chase after a boy I will be very cross with you." She warned, a deadly look on her face. 

He just gave her a sad smile, "I'm sorry Hermione." Harry shook himself out of her grip with ease and left to go after Snape and Malfoy, leaving a furious Hermione Granger behind.

It didn't take long for that fury to turn into a crushing sadness. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully you enjoyed, I originally meant for this to only be around 4-5 chapters, but now I find myself wanting to cover the rest of HBP! Let me know what you think of that idea. Also, apologies for any abhorrent grammar mistakes and what not, this isn't beta'd and I usually write late at night. My apologies if it makes it hard to read. As always, reviews are appreciated.


	4. Dive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry elects to stay at Grimmauld Place during Christmas holiday's, and he's about to get a visitor. Hermione rows with Ron while at the Burrow, with her parents on vacation, she can do nothing else but stay with Harry. Things are awkward to say the least. Remus is just along for the ride as he watches over the two teens.

_"Hold me down, hold me up. Hold me close 'cause my times is up"_

* * *

"Wake up!" 

"Mrghh." 

"Stupid half-blood master, has no respect." The voice grumbled. "Blood traitor, filthy muggle love-"

"KREACHER!" Another voice roared. 

Now up, Harry saw Remus Lupin storm into the room to berate the house elf. 

The elf was on a role however, "Won't listen to you, disgusting half breed."

"Enough." Harry said, forcefully. Fully awake now. "I forbid you from talking to him like that, or talking bad about my friends at all, whether I'm here or not." 

Kreacher was silent for a moment, clearly thinking over the order for any way around it. When he could not find one, the elf nodded.

"Yes, master."

With that, he popped away, no doubt to grumble some more in a forgotten part of the house.

Harry now turned to his former teacher, "What are you doing here professor?" 

Anger forgotten, the old marauder smiled at the boy.

"Harry I haven't been your professor for three years, it's Remus." He said. "And I'm here to stay with you over the holiday's." 

His green eye's narrowed as he scowled, "So I'm being babysat?"

He had chosen to stay at Grimmauld place for the holiday, wanting some privacy for himself that he wouldn't get at the Burrow. That, and Harry was a little scared of seeing Hermione at the moment. As much as he might have disliked this place, the quiet it brought was a nice change of pace for himself.

The werewolf sighed, "It's not like that, well, you'll see why soon enough, I'm sure." He looked a little weary when he spoke next, "Best to see for yourself, come downstairs when you're ready." And then he left. 

When Harry arrived downstairs, he was met with a terrifying sight. Hermione Granger was sat down on a chair in the dining area, cold eyes deliberately not looking at him. He had faced Voldemort on many occasions, and it simply did not compare to an angry Hermione. Especially one that was angry at _him._

"Hermione will be staying with us during the break as well." Remus said, looking between the two teens with caution. 

"Why?" Harry asked, trying to lock eyes with his best friend.

"Ronald and I had a bit of a row," She muttered lowly. "And since my parents went on vacation, I came here." 

Hermione said all this without sparing him a glance, it hurt a little if Harry was being honest, not that he didn't deserve it. 

"So!" Remus began, louder than necessary. "What shall we have for breakfast?" Giving the two a forced, broad smile.

* * *

Only a day passed before Harry could take it no longer. 

Mustering up some of his Gryffindor courage, he found Hermione in the library (unsurprisingly), pouring through the Black family books. 

She noticed him coming, and made to leave with a few books.

"Hermione! Wait, let me talk to you." He pleaded. Seeing her stop, encouraged him to keep going. "I'm sorry for leaving you at Slughorn's party, I saw Malfoy and then all reasoning went out the window. I should never have done that, and I truly am sorry."

Tears glistened in the bushy haired girls eyes before she spoke. 

"When you first found the Prince's book," she began. "I thought you wouldn't need me anymore, after all, you had something that could give you all the answers _and_ teach you new things." Hermione shook her head, a sad and self deprecating smile on her face. "Me, jealous of a book. It's ridiculous. By the time you had thrown it away, I was starting to get used to the situation. Your decision to no longer use it made me _so_ happy." 

For the first time since she had arrived, Hermione looked at Harry right in his eyes. 

"But when you left me at that party, it felt like I was being left behind all over again. And it was _terrible."_

Harry's shoulders sagged and he looked down at his feet. In that moment, he hated himself more than anything. More than Voldemort, Snape, Malfoy and even Bellatrix. 

"I don't know what to say Hermione," he croaked, voice breaking. "I had no idea you felt that way. No stupid book could ever replace you."

"Oh Harry!" Hermione cried, hugging him fiercely. "I forgive you, we've both been so stupid lately haven't we?" She said, voice muffled due to her face being buried in his chest. 

"I reckon me more so than you." Harry joked, a small smile on his face. "Besides," he began as they let go of each other. "It didn't say anything about Herbology, or Charms. I'd still need you for that." 

Hermione smacked his head lightly, smiling back at him. "Prat."

* * *

Crisis averted, the rest of Christmas break went by swimmingly. Remus found himself lounging in the living room on a comfortable rocking chair. He had quickly noticed Hermione's change of attitude and was relieved, finally being able to relax and not have to make sure the two weren't about to argue. The house wasn't an ideal place to spend a holiday, but it was if the spirit of Sirius Black had possessed the last true marauder. Remus would go around singing carols and spending time with Harry. It felt good for him, while he was away hiding like a coward, Harry was being abused by his muggle relatives. And when the boy finally finds family that loves him, it gets torn away. So much more than time had been lost, and Remus fully planned to make up for it. 

Harry may have looked almost identically like James, but he was Lily through and through. The two would talk about old school stories of his father, and Remus would teach him some duelling technique's as best as he could. 

There was also a particular day, that they visited the Burrow. While things were a bit awkward for the teens, there was a hilarious moment when he and Harry had actually managed to convince Hermione to fly on a broom. The end result was a crash into a snow bank not even five feet away that had him and Harry doubling over in laughter.

_This_ was what Christmas is supposed to be like, spending time with family. And they _were_ his family. Harry and Hermione seemed closer than ever as well, Remus was curious, but didn't want to intrude. He could not remember being this happy and content in a long time. 

So it follows that, of course, something terrible happened, it came in the form of the morning's edition of the Daily Prophet. 

**MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN**

**DEMENTORS TO JOIN YOU-KNOW-WHO**

The headline is not what bothered him so much, it was inevitable that Voldemort would break out his followers. It was also very unsurprising that the Dementors would join him, as they had in the last war. No, what made the werewolf so worried was a smaller story, shoved to the bottom right. 

_Dedalus Diggle Found Murdered In Home_

The Order was once again being targeted. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm worried that Hermione forgave him too quickly, let me know what you think. Reviews are always appreciated! P.S I am once again aware of my changes not matching up with the timeline. The breakout doesn't happen until January but I felt it was better to make it a month earlier, Merry Christmas, eh? Dedalus Diggle is never confirmed dead in the books, as it is only mentioned by Lupin that his house was burned down in Deathly Hallows. Changing that, the first war killed many Order members, and yes in DH plenty die, but I felt adding Diggle was necessary to stress the seriousness of this war. I'll most likely be continuing this fic throughout HBP, we'll see how that goes.


	5. Life Is Simple in the Moonlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or is it?

_"Why do we fall? So that we can learn to pick_ ourselves _up."_

* * *

Christmas Day came, and with it, a very happy time spent with the people he considered family. At least, that's how it started out. Harry received the normal Weasley jumper from Molly, a few new prototypes from the twins, an assortment of junk food from Ron (he especially appreciated this, as Remus wasn't fond of candy and the like, to say the least), a top of the line broom servicing kit from Ginny (how in the world did she even afford it?!), and an enchanted bag made out of dragon hide that could hold _much_ more than it appeared from Hagrid.

An interesting present in particular was the one from Dumbledore, it was a thin, sea blue book with intricate designs all over it. Attached to it was a small note in Dumbledore's elegant scrawl that merely said, " _Could be interesting - A.P.W.B.D"_

Deciding to look at it later, Harry continued on. 

What he received from Hermione was spectacular, a new trunk that had dozens of compartments that, much like Hagrid's gift, could hold much more than what it seemed. It was also password protected by a series of complicated runes that Harry himself could set up. However the best part, was a framed photo neatly wrapped and placed inside. It was of him and Hermione at Slughorn's party, dancing together.

"Who took this?" He asked his friend.

"Colin," Hermione replied. "Apparently he managed to convince Slughorn that it was necessary to photograph such a momentous occasion." She snorted at that last part. "Probably caught the professor after he was already a bottle in."

He couldn't help but laugh at that, "This is amazing, Hermione. Thank you." 

She blushed and mumbled a "You're welcome."

"I'm afraid my gift doesn't even compare." He told her with a smile, knowing full well she'd love it. 

Harry had gotten her a collection of books on runes written by a master in that field, there were only few in existence and it hurt him a little to spend that many galleons in one go. It was all worth it when he saw Hermione's face however, her eyes were as wide as saucers.

"Harry how did you get these!" She yelled. "I had heard that they were sold out ages ago!"

"Well of course they sold out 'Mione, I bought the last set after all." He said, a cheeky grin on his face. 

"Oh you wonderful prat!" Hermione cried, throwing herself at him and engulfing the green-eyed wizard in a bone crushing hug. 

From Remus, Harry was confused at first when he opened his gift.

"Is this an invisibility cloak?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow at his former professor. 

"Not quite," Lupin replied with a mischievous smile that he showed far too little. "These are extensions for your cloak, I'll help you set it up but all you have to do to enlarge your cloak is tap the extensions and say the incantation _Porrigo._ If you want it to shrink, say _S_ _ubtraxerim utilium."_

"That's brilliant!" Hermione exclaimed, her own present forgotten.

Harry could only nod along dumbly, amazed at the gift. 

"This must have cost you a fortune." Harry said. 

"Hardly, Sirius _did_ leave me a fair bit of money in his will." Remus replied, waving away Harry's concerns. "And I made it using some of your dads old notes on it, he was attempting to do it himself, you see. So I completed it, think of it as a gift from both of us."

It was now Remus' turn to be on the end of a bone crushing hug, as Harry nearly tackled the man of his feet. 

"Thank you." Harry choked out, tears brimming in his eyes. 

For his part, Remus only hesitated for a second before pulling the boy even closer. 

"You're welcome."

* * *

Hours later, the trio had assembled in the kitchen, the air tense.

"I'll be down in the basement the entire time, it's warded pretty tight, the Order has a place like this at all their safe-houses, just for me. It should hold, but we haven't actually tested this one. If anything happens, floo over to the burrow." 

They all knew what had to happen. It was a full moon.

Remus kept talking, but his words grew distant to Harry's ears. He had only ever seen Remus in his werewolf form once, and Harry didn't fancy on having to do it again. To witness a close friend go through it was painful, he couldn't imagine what it felt like for the man himself.

"You are not to come near the hatch, and if anyone from the Order calls, tell them what's going on."

When the two teens nodded, Remus went off to his self made prison in the next room over. 

"Goodnight." He said dejectedly. 

The hatch closed with an audible click, and it seemed that everything was in place and ready to go. 

Harry and Hermione went up the stairs in silence, and when they reached the landing where his room was, they too, bid each other good night. 

He had trouble sleeping that night, worried sick about his friend. The basement was obviously charmed to keep sounds out, which the young wizard was thankful for, as Harry didn't think he could handle it if he had to hear the howls of his father's best friend all night. It turned out, that not falling asleep was a good thing in this particular case. At a quarter past three in the morning, there were noises coming from downstairs. 

When he reached the room where the sound came from, his heart sank. 

"Hermione!" He yelled.

A grunt came from behind him, "No need to shout Harry, I'm right here."

"You heard it too then?" He asked her.

She nodded sleepily, "Bit hard not too."

Another bang emanated from the floor in front of them, making the two jump slightly. 

"How bloody big was that room?" Harry asked rhetorically. "We're not even close to where he went down." 

"I don't understand," She said. "The wolfsbane should make him an ordinary sleepy wolf."

"Maybe he forgot to take it one night." He suggested.

She rolled her eyes at him, "I really doubt that Harry, especially after the disaster in our third year." Hermione chewed at her bottom lip worryingly "Do you think it'll hold him?" She wondered, nodding at the floor. 

Harry shook his head, "I don't know, he said it hadn't been tested." 

An even louder bang than before occurred, but the teens were too distracted by the fireplace to be truly worried over it. Someone was flooing in, clear by the green flames that replaced the usual orange. The banging got farther away, still, they paid it no mind. 

Out of the flames came a tall, lanky figure with bright orange hair.

"Ron!" Both Harry and Hermione shouted. 

The boy looked terrible, has was dirty and sweaty. 

"Death Eaters attacked us," He gasped out. "Just barely got out, Order's there now." 

"Which ones?" Harry asked, features hardening. 

Ron hesitated before answering, and when he did, his eyes did not meet Harry's. 

"The Carrows, Greyback, and... Bellatrix." 

To say Harry was furious, was putting it mildly. 

Instead of letting him go on a tangent, Hermione wisely spoke next.

"How bad is the damage?" She asked the red head.

Ron sighed, "Well, they set it on fire, reckon it's gonna take a while before we can repair it, _if_ we can repair it. What the bloody hell is _that_?"

He was gesturing to something behind them, with only the light of the fire and their wands, it made sense that he couldn't see much. 

However, Harry and Hermione had realized too late that the banging had long stopped, and behind them, something was growling. 

Lupin had escaped. 

The werewolf lunged as the two teens facing towards Ron turned, and Harry swore he thought it was over, only to be shoved to the side. Harry looked on in horror as Ron was slashed on the chest by Remus in his blind rage, he had saved him. 

Ron dropped to the ground with a bone chilling scream, blood spurting out from his wound. 

One prey down, the werewolf turned its attention to the only other living people in the room. 

And prepared to pounce. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I take no credit for the gift from Dumbledore, I read it in a fic somewhere. I believe it's called "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Romantic.", so all credit for the idea goes to that author, I'm merely adopting it. In that fic I think Albus gives Harry three books, each with a roman numeral on it, here, it's just one. Also, I have no clue how accurate my latin is, so don't crucify me. Reviews are appreciated!


	6. Demons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter, pretty happy with how it went, an interlude of sorts, but I did set some stuff up. I have a good idea of where this is going, I hope, heh. In case you haven't realized I'm not a big fan with super long chapters unless I deem it necessary and whether or not I have the motivation. Sorry if that's not your thing. No real fluff in this chapter, but rest assured there will be some next time. Until then, stay safe everyone.

_"Pebbles shimmering in the moonlight; my life drips down in a trail so easy to follow."_

* * *

Severus Snape was a cautious man, he would be stupid not to be. Spying for two of the most powerful wizards of all time was very taxing, didn't allow for much free time. One thing he was not however, was a coward. That is what the Order believed of him, cowardly enough to give Lupin a wolfsbane potion that was tampered with, all to get to the Potter boy. Sure, Severus hated the child, and loathed Granger, but to subject teens to such a grim fate? He would _never_ stoop so low. 

"Amycus Carrow, it had to be." He said. 

He was in Grimmauld Place, being interrogated in one of the many unused rooms. The people before him wore very different expressions; Nymphadora looked _extremely_ unconvinced, Arthur seemed unsure, Lupin was to busy staring a hole into the floor, and Albus was desperately trying to get things under control.

"Why do you think this, Severus?" The older wizard asked. 

"He had been snooping around my stores at the manor, asking unimportant questions." He explained. "If anyone did it, it was him." 

"Real convenient that we can't just use veritaeserum or legilimency on you eh, Snape?" Tonks remarked sarcastically.

"Not really convenient at all, actually." Arthur muttered quietly. 

"Now now, Severus had no idea where Remus was staying, being unable to make the deliveries himself as he was needed at Malfoy Manor. They were sent to me directly, and I had brought them to Remus myself." Dumbledore said. "However, this does bring up the issue of it happening again, and if Voldemort suspects your true allegiances."

"I have no idea," Snape said. "There have been no attempts on my mind as far as I can tell, and he has not said a word of it to me." 

"I'm sorry but you can't seriously believe what this greaseball is saying!" Tonks shouted.

The young auror made to argue further, but stopped when the older wizard raised his hand.

"I am inclined to believe Severus, this is a complicated situation that we find ourselves in." Dumbledore said calmly. "Though the idea of putting you in further danger is not a pleasing one to me, removing you from the manor now, if Voldemort knows the truth, would show our hand far too early. I'm afraid you very well may have to stay there for the time being." 

Snape nodded his understanding, "Of course, Albus."

"Remus," Arthur began. "You've been awfully quiet, what do you think?" 

There was a long pause, almost as if the dishevelled man did not hear the question, and then slowly, he raised his head to stare Snape in the eyes. An even longer pause occurred, where nobody said a word. 

Finally, Remus spoke, "I believe him." Lupin said. 

Snape held in a shudder of relief that he did not know he had been holding. 

With that, they all departed.

* * *

Later on, in another hardly used room, were five people. Ron was asleep in a bed, looked over by friends and family alike. 

"What do you think will happen to him?" Hermione asked.

"You mean if he'll become a werewolf?" Answered Bill Weasley with a grim smile. "Not too sure, no way to tell until the next full moon I suppose." 

"I didn't bite him," Remus piped up irritably from the corner, his head hanging low. "Just a scratch." 

"A bloody deep one." Tonks mumbled, which only received an indifferent grunt from Lupin. 

"How are the rest of them taking it?" Hermione once again asked Bill.

The curse breaker sighed, "As well as can be expected, mum's driving herself spare doing chores around the house, dad's mailed Percy and Charlie, Fred and George are doing alright all things considered, Ginny's been real quiet about it though." He finished.

Bill turned back to watch over his youngest brother, and Hermione risked a glance at Harry, who was sitting next to Remus. Both men had similar looks of shame on their faces, looking anywhere but at Ron's bed. 

"Stop that, the both of you, stop it right this instant!" She demanded, surprising everyone else in the room at her sudden loudness. "Stop carrying the blame on your shoulders, literally none of this was either of your faults!" 

Remus made to speak but she cut him off, "How were you supposed to know the potion was a dud? Exactly!" Hermione yelled before turning to look at the raven haired wizard, "And you! A mad man being hell bent on killing you is not your fault! So stop moping about it and put all that guilt into taking him down for good!" 

When Hermione finished, she was breathing heavily, glaring daggers at the two, daring them to test her. Remus and Harry were stunned into silence, looking at her with wide eyes, Bill looked mildly surprised, and Tonks was grinning at her. 

"Blimey Hermione, you could wake the dead with your screaming." Came a disgruntled voice from the bed.

"Ron!" She gasped. "You're awake!" 

"Bloody hard to not be after that." He said with a grin. 

"I'll go get the others." Bill said before dashing out of the room. 

"So," Ron began slowly. "What's the damage?" 

"Too early to tell," Tonks told him. "We'll just have to wait and see." 

Ron nodded in acceptance, like he already knew that would be the answer. 

"I don't blame you, you know." Ron said, looking right at Remus. "What happened was an accident, and I'm clearly fine, not dead so I can't really complain." 

"That's a good way of looking at it." Tonks said. 

Remus gave a tiny nod of agreement, "Thank you." He mumbled. "If you need anything, any advice, don't hesitate to ask me." 

"Alright," Ron acknowledged. "So what happened after?"

"Well we all came in through the floo not too long after, thank Merlin, the two of you would have been next." Tonks said motioning at Harry and Hermione. 

"Blimey it took that many people?" Ron exclaimed. 

"Well Remus is pretty strong when he's cranky." Tonks remarked with a grin, one that quickly faded at the exasperated look the older man was giving her. "Sorry." She said.

Remus shook his head slightly, a small smile playing on his face. 

"It's okay," He reassured her. "Probably something Sirius would say." 

That earned smiles all around at the memory of their furry friend. 

They sat in silence for a while, each thinking of something different, before Tonks shot up suddenly. 

"Almost forgot," She said, turning to Harry. "Mad-Eye wants to see you whenever you're ready, he's been setting up one of the larger unused rooms for some _exercises."_ Tonks ended by waggling her eyebrows at him. "Should be on the first floor somewhere, _good luck._ " 

Harry gulped. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not perfect, if there's any discrepancies I might have missed, please let me know.


	7. Wake Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Harry get's his ego bruised a smidge, and has a whole new perspective on his resident grouchy house elf.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *plot intensifies*

_"Death has come to your little town, Sheriff."_

* * *

"Get up off your arse Potter! You think Death Eaters will give you a breather? I'm being lenient as it is!" 

If _this_ was Moody's idea of lenient Harry'd hate to see what it'd be like if the grizzled veteran was actually trying to maim him. 

Harry peered over his makeshift cover to see if he could spot Moody, but as he was looking around, A nonverbal blasting curse was sent his way. Harry flew through the air, and saw a jet of red sky rocketing right towards him, before he knew it, Harry was on his back across the room, and windless. 

"That's enough for now." Moody grunted, before throwing Harry's wand back to him. 

Mad-Eye appraised him for a moment, clearly thinking hard. 

Finally, after an uncomfortable few minutes, he spoke. 

"You're alright for someone your age, clearly above your peers if we go by your marks, I looked at your practical OWL results, pretty impressive." 

At these words, Harry felt elated to be praised so openly by the legendary auror.

"However, you wouldn't do too well one on one with them lot, you're shite compared to an actual auror, and you definitely need some work. Got some potential and raw skill, so we'll have to focus on honing it." 

Ego only slightly bruised, Harry nodded in acceptance. 

Moody continued, "I want you here every night 'cept for new years, gotta break you in fast before you go back to school." 

He _really_ didn't like the sound of that.

* * *

Hours later, in the library, Harry had regaled Hermione with his daring battle against Moody, in which she correctly called him out on it. 

"Could've humoured me, just a little." He said jokingly. 

"Where's the fun in that?" Hermione replied, a smirk on her face as she flipped through a book. 

They had found themselves like this on many occasions, reading together (mostly Hermione) in the Black family library. He could get used to this, Harry thought, the two of them, spending time together, joking, just being in each others presence. And, er, Ron too, he supposed. Speaking of his ginger friend, whatever bad blood he and Hermione once had, was gone now. Life threatening situations really put things into perspective, Harry mused. 

A wave of a hand in front of his face brought him out of his thoughts. 

"Harry, you're staring." Hermione told him, a small smile on her face.

"Oh!, ah, sorry about that 'Mione, guess I spaced out there for a second." He tried to explain himself, blushing a bit. 

"That's alright, I was just wondering if you wanted to go and get lunch ready?" 

Harry nodded and the two of them left to go and eat. He actually liked cooking contrary to what Hermione initially believed, when he wasn't under the stress of doing it for the Dursley's, anyway. Harry believed he was quite good, if the speed of which Remus and Hermione scarfed it down was any indication. He didn't do it so much now, with Mrs. Weasley being here and all, not that he minded, the matriarch of the Weasley family was a brilliant cook. 

Halfway down to the kitchen, a noise stopped the two teens in their tracks.

Sobbing. 

They shared a confused look before creeping towards what looked like a cupboard.

Under the stairs. 

Harry swallowed hard before opening the door, revealing Kreacher, hunched over, bawling his eyes out. 

The green eyed wizard suddenly felt much younger, like he was back in his own cupboard, and he was frozen on the spot. 

Thankfully, Hermione spoke up, "Kreacher, are you okay?"

The elf in question, barely glanced at her from his position, but was still able to throw obscenities at her. Or at least, he tried to, as when he was surely about to call Hermione a mud blood, the grouchy house elf clammed up, quite comically biting his lip. 

Harry eventually found his voice, "Kreacher, I order you to tell me what you're crying about."

"Harry!" Hermione admonished. "Don't force him to! Would you want to talk about it?"

"No, and that's exactly why he needs to." He answered. 

Kreacher was clearly holding himself back from speaking, until he could not disobey the direct order any longer.

"It's gone!" The elf cried. "Gone! Kreacher had searched and searched, thought maybe it was misplaced, but no, Kreacher has failed master Regulus even further!" 

"What's gone?" Harry asked.

"Master Regulus' locket! He had asked Kreacher to destroy it, before-" Kreacher stopped suddenly, once again biting his lip to avoid from speaking. 

"Kreacher, please, tell me." Harry pleaded softly.

"Before he died," Kreacher croaked. "Master Regulus was a good wizard, not like his _brother._ " Harry was tempted to scold the elf for his slight on Sirius, but let him continue anyway. "He joined the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters, made Kreacher's mistress proud. The Dark Lord needed Kreacher, said it was a 'great honour', he brought Kreacher to a cave, made Kreacher drink a horrible potion, put a locket in the basin, and left Kreacher to die." 

Harry felt terrible for the poor elf, he may have been grouchy and insulted the people he cared about, but to subject another living thing to this? 

"And when Kreacher tried to drink water from the cave, _they_ came." Kreacher shuddered as he remembered. "Gangly little monsters, hundreds of them, tried to drag Kreacher under the water, barely escaped."

Hermione breathed in sharply, muttering a barely audible, "Inferi" under her breath.

"What was all this for, surely he didn't do all that to get rid of a house elf?" Harry asked. 

Kreacher shook his head, "For a locket, one that belonged to the great Salazar Slytherin himself! Master Regulus had gone back to the cave once he learned of what happened to Kreacher, and swapped it with a fake." 

Harry's eyes bulged as he realized what this meant, that a horcrux had been in this house for years! 

"If he swapped it, wouldn't he had to have drank the potion?" Hermione asked.

Kreacher hesitated before answering, and perhaps realizing that he'd be ordered to anyway, spoke.

"Yes, Kreacher begged master Regulus to let him drink the potion, but he refused, told Kreacher to leave with the real locket, and destroy it. But Kreacher could never do it, no matter what Kreacher tried, the locket would not break, and master Regulus died for nothing, drowning at the bottom of the cave, alone." 

"Who took the locket then?" Hermione wondered aloud after a few moments of silence.

Harry however, already had a good idea, and his face hardened as he spoke.

"Mundungus." He growled out at the same time as Kreacher. 

Harry suddenly crouched down and grasped Kreacher's bony shoulder lightly, "Listen, find Mundungus, track him down and bring him back here, and I promise you we'll get that locket back, and destroy it. You won't fail Regulus."

Kreacher looked at Harry in awe, before standing up in his small cupboard and giving Harry a salute, his face set in determination. 

"Kreacher will do it, master." The elf said, before popping away. 

"Harry, you don't think..." Hermione began slowly, looking at him with wide eyes.

"I do, and I need to owl Dumbledore, we've found another horcrux." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's that, I thought the chapter would be longer but this is a good length. We've deviated from canon even further now, and I for one, am excited. I believe I have the timing of events right, Mundungus was confronted by Harry sometime in October I think about stealing stuff from Grimmauld Place, and while it may have taken Kreacher a long time to notice the locket's disappearance, in the elf's defence, he's had that locket for years, and likely gave up a long time ago, and probably wouldn't check to see if it was missing, probably realized it was on accident. I say probably, but this is how it's happened in my story, so yeah, lol. Hope you're all staying inside and taking the proper precautions, and as always, reviews are appreciated!


	8. Quick & Quiet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry goes on a heist.

_" It is a trap. But a trap one must step in..."_

* * *

Four people stood together in the dining room of the Black family home. Harry was impatiently tapping his foot in anticipation, Hermione was by his side as always. Remus Lupin sat in one of the chairs, looking unsure of the whole situation, while Albus Dumbledore stood nearby, his features stoic, the familiar twinkle in his eyes not present. Some of the Weasley's were gone, the Burrow wasn't going to rebuild itself after all, the only ones who remained were Ron and Ginny, and the latter was keeping the former company in his room, no doubt losing in a game of chess. They were all waiting for something, and they had been waiting for a while. 

**CRACK!**

Kreacher appeared on the top of the dining table, a short and dirty man splayed out on it as well. Mundungus Fletcher looked terrible, more so than usual. As the cowardly man got himself off the table, he was accosted by both Remus and Harry as he tried to apparate away.

"Not so fast 'Dung," Harry growled. "We have a couple of questions for you."

"What's with settin' this bleedin' elf on me? I ain't do nuthin'!" The man exclaimed, still trying to struggle out of the grip of the two larger men.

"Oh no?" Harry asked. "You've been nicking Sirius' stuff, right?" 

"I already told you that, back when you tried to strangle me in the Three Broomsticks!" Fletcher said.

"Yes, and we simply want to know what you did with one particular item, Mundungus." Came the calm voice of Dumbledore. 

"Just one?" Mundungus asked. 

"Just one." Dumbledore promised.

The room was tense, Hermione had her wand out by her side, ready to use it if necessary. Meanwhile, Kreacher wielded a frying pan menacingly, his beady eyes never leaving the thief in front of him, he was practically begging Harry to let him at Mundungus. 

"There was a locket," Dumbledore began. "It would have had a capital S design in green on it." 

The thief's eyes widened in recognition, "Yeah I remember that, bloody thing made me feel terrible, and I couldn't find anyone to sell it off to." 

"So you still have it then?" Harry asked. 

"Nah, some ministry lackey took it from me, let me go free so long as I just handed it over, didn't matter much to me at that point." 'Dung shrugged, as much as he could anyway.

"Who was this employee?" Dumbledore asked. 

"I dunno 'er name, she was short..." Fletcher trailed off, trying to remember the details. "Wore a lot of pink, looked a bit like a toad."

At this, even Dumbledore looked surprised.

"Dolores Umbridge?"

'Dung considered it for a second, "Yeah that sounds kind've like it, probably right."

Albus sighed, this would complicate matters.

"Alright Mundungus, you may leave.” He said.

Harry and Remus released the greasy man, and he popped away, not bothering to say goodbye.

"What do we do now professor?" Harry said, turning to look at Dumbledore.

The older man in question, was deep in thought. 

"It seems like we may have to make a trip to the Ministry of Magic." He said. 

"For a locket?" Lupin interrupted. "Albus, why on earth is it that important?" 

"It is not just any locket Remus, I cannot give you the specifics, but it is indeed that important." Dumbledore told the man.

"Professor, for what it's worth, I trust Remus as much as I would Hermione or Ron, and he did help us kidnap 'Dung, he deserves to know." Harry said. 

Dumbledore considered this for a long moment, before sighing.

"Very well," He said. "This locket is a horcrux, one of Voldemort's." 

Remus' eyes bulged comically at this information, "A horcrux? How did he even learn about such a thing?" 

"I believe Horace told him, many years ago when he still attended Hogwarts." Albus responded. 

"How do you know about it?" Hermione asked.

"I had only heard about it a year ago, back when we were helping clean this place up for your arrival. Read it in a book in the library, we removed it of course." He answered her.

Hermione seemed a little put out at this, having not being able to find anything on the subject during the break. 

"Will you be going alone then?" 

Dumbledore looked at Harry, _really_ looked at the boy, no, _man_. 

"No, I believe I will need your help, as well as Ms. Grangers, and you too Remus." Dumbledore said. 

The other two nodded, and Harry felt elated at the news. Dumbledore needed _his_ help. 

"We must plan this out, going in as ourselves would be dangerous, so polyjuice potion is the way to go I believe. Time is of the essence, so I will go to Severus' stores back at Hogwarts to obtain some, as he has them ready made. Remus I would ask you to go and find some, ah, samples to use for our excursion. I will alert the rest of the Order of our mission, save the finer, details, and I would much appreciate that none of you reveal these details." 

"At least if Dora doesn't know, she can't kill me over it." Remus said with a chuckle. "You'll have to tell them eventually, you know. Can't keep it from them forever, especially not now." 

Albus nodded solemnly, "Believe me, I know that now." 

There was no going back.

* * *

In their preparation, Remus had found four hair samples to use in the polyjuice, Hermione had developed a plan, and Harry and Dumbledore had worked out how they'd destroy the horcrux.

The people they'd be impersonating were all muggles, but the ministry wouldn't know that.

"They might think it's an attack on Voldemort's behalf, or they might not. Truth is, it doesn't really matter what they believe, so long as they don't know it was us." Remus had told him with a rare mischievous grin. 

Hermione had taken great care in going over the plan with them all, especially Harry, which he found only slightly patronizing, but honestly didn't mind at all, as it meant more time spent alone with Hermione. Speaking of which, Harry often lamented over never wanting that time to end, loathing the mere week they had left for Christmas holiday. 

When the time came, Harry was disguised as a blonde haired man with aristocratic features, not too dissimilar from Lucius Malfoy, which Hermione thought was a little funny. 

"I'm sorry," She said between snorts of laughter. "I'm just imagining you talking with his accent, about the dumbest of things, and I can't stop laughing." 

If he didn't find it so endearing he might've been put out. 

_Liar._

Hermione herself had red hair, and quite honestly looked like a supermodel, which Remus mentioned would be a good distraction off of the others if needed.

Remus was slightly shorter than before, but with near shoulder length jet black hair and a scruffy beard to match. His eyes were black like Snape's, but these ones look like they carried years of experience, in what, Harry was unsure. 

"I feel like a hitman." He mused to himself.

"Oh ho ho!" Came a booming laugh. 

Harry nearly didn't see him but, Dumbledore was a _very_ short man, with a hilariously deep voice. 

"Is that really practical?" Harry asked Remus. "There were no other muggles around?"

Remus merely shrugged, "It'll be harder to hit him, and you shouldn't judge someone based on their size, your professor Flitwick is a duelling champion." 

It was with that, the four of them departed for the ministry. 

Each took the guest entrance one at a time, and they all gathered together in the atrium. Despite being there twice in the past year, Harry had to marvel at the sights. 

"You all know what to do," Remus said. "We'll meet back here in fifteen minutes at the most."

They all nodded, and split up. Harry with Dumbledore, and Hermione with Remus. 

"We must act quickly Harry," Dumbledore stated, walking very fast trying to keep up with the younger man. "Based on what Nymphadora has told us, Dolores should be on her break." 

Harry remembered, before leaving they had contacted Tonks, asking for the toad's routine and schedule. 

They reached a large, if smaller atrium, the cafeteria. The ministry workers had different lunch times to avoid filling the room to the brim with people. This particular lunch break was the one that Dolores Umbridge often had. Sure enough, across from them was the toad herself, carefully eating her sandwich like a pampered princess. She sat alone, and paid no mind to anyone surrounding her. 

When Harry looked over to the polyjuiced Dumbledore, he saw that the little man had his wand out, pointing in Umbridge's direction and was muttering something that Harry didn't catch. A brief flash of panic went through him at the prospect of them being caught, but as soon as it came, Dumbledore's wand was gone. 

"Professor," Harry began slowly. "What exactly did you do?"

"Oh you'll see m'boy." Dumbledore answered him, his face filled with a childlike excitement that Harry would have a hard time imagining on the real headmaster. 

To his word, something did indeed happen. When Umbridge drank from her goblet, her eyes widened, and the short woman got up and rushed off down a hallway. 

"Sir?" Harry questioned.

"Madam Umbridge must have to use the lavatory," Dumbledore mused innocently. "Come, we shall be leaving." 

Shaking his head at the professor's antics, Harry lead the way back to the agreed meeting point. 

Unfortunately for them, lady luck had other plans. An alarm started blaring after the duo could barely take three steps, and people everywhere were moving in a panic to leave. 

"Is there another way out? Pretty sure the normal way will be blocked." Harry theorized. 

"Hmmm," Dumbledore murmured, reaching to stroke his beard before realizing he did not have one. "I think you are correct, Harry. Let us find an elevator." 

When they found an elevator, several twists and turns through multiple hallways, Dumbledore paused. 

Harry was about ask what was wrong, but he soon saw what the older man was looking at. Multiple Auror's were chasing a man through hallways opposite of the way they came. 

"That must be Remus, you go Harry, find miss Granger and return to Grimmauld Place." Dumbledore ordered. 

"But professor-" Harry tried, before being cut off. 

Dumbledore waved him off, "I will hear none of it m'boy, go. If we all get caught, it'll be for nothing. Take the elevator to the underground, floor one. From there you can disapparate out of here, as the wards do not reach that far." 

With that, the headmaster left, leaving Harry feeling like the most useless wizard in history. So he waited for the elevator, silently seething at being denied the opportunity to help. A woman approached, seemingly waiting for the elevator as well. When it came, he and the woman stepped in, and Harry was nearly floored. This lady was a looker to say the least, and Harry mused inwardly that she must've been a model of some sort with the dress she had on, although he couldn't recall a modelling branch of the ministry off the top of his head. 

"See something you like, handsome?" 

Harry blushed hard as he realized that he'd been caught staring. 

"Er, sorry." He said. 

The woman burst out laughing, "Oh Harry! Do you not remember?" 

Immediately he felt stupid, "Hermione?" 

She was too busy laughing to verbally respond, but Hermione gave a frantic nod of her head. 

After a few moments filled with Hermione cackling at his embarrassment, she calmed down, albeit with a few giggles here and there. 

"Was that alarm you and Remus? Do you have the locket?" He asked her.

She sobered up at the question, "Yes and no, I had the toad stunned immediately, but someone must have heard the yelp that ghastly woman gave out beforehand, and charged in. I handed the locket off to Remus, hopefully he still has it." Hermione's features hardened, which looked quite intimidating on her polyjuiced form. "Probably fancied themselves a hefty bonus, saving the undersecretary to the Minister." She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. This had an unfortunate side effect, as it accented her bust quite prominently. 

Harry stared for only a second before realizing what he was doing, both teens looking away, blushing madly. 

"Underground level one, have a nice day." An automated voice chimed.

"Don't suppose you know where to go?" Hermione asked him with a sheepish grin. "I just followed into the elevator with you after Remus led the Auror's away." 

Harry cracked a grin, "Don't suppose you can apparate yet?"

Hermione shook her head sadly, "I don't have my licence."

He had to laugh at this, "Doing it illegally is what you're worried about?"

She smacked his arm hard in answer.

"What about Kreacher?" Hermione asked. 

"Right," He remembered. "KREACHER." 

With a crack, the elf appeared. 

"Master called?" Kreacher asked. 

"Yes, do you think you could take us back to Grimmauld Place?" 

"Of course." Kreacher nodded, he grabbed both Harry and Hermione, something Harry himself happily noted there was no hesitation in.

One terrible sensation later, and they were back at the Order's headquarters. 

"Thank you, Kreacher." Harry said. 

The elf looked shocked at this, but collected himself relatively quickly and bowed. 

"Master is too kind." 

A beat of silence followed before Hermione broke it, "Well now what?"

"Now we wait I suppose," He answered, sitting down on an armchair. "You going to change out of that?" Harry asked, gesturing to her dress. "Looks a bit uncomfortable." 

Hermione shook her head, "It is, but I doubt my other clothes could fit _this."_ She answered, gesturing to her bust. 

"Er, right." He said, his voice coming out weirdly. "Couldn't you just, y'know, make them larger?" 

A sudden evil look came over her face, before quickly being replaced by an innocent one. 

"My boobs? I suppose I could try, just for _you._ "

"NO," He shouted a little too loudly. "No," Harry said more quietly. "That will not be necessary, I was talking about your other clothes." 

"I know," She said simply. "You're just too easy sometimes."

Harry huffed in annoyance, but his retort was interrupted by a crack and the appearance of a polyjuiced Remus and Dumbledore. 

The room was quiet, as if waiting with baited breath itself. 

"Professor?" Harry asked, voice low.

The short man merely raised out his arm, showing the locket dangling from his hand, eyes blazing with triumph.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do hope I was able to create some good tension. I also realize that witches and wizards can apparate into and out from the ministry in canon, but I'm changing that here as I find it a little dumb, not that the floo is any better per se, but certainly much safer in case of an invasion. Also, I hope nobody minds my slightly flirty Hermione, I realize that it's not totally in character for her, but I have too much fun writing her like that, and it won't be a prominent personality thing for her like how Tonks is written. Reviews are appreciated!


	9. Bitter Murmur

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A horcrux is destroyed, two teens get even more closer, and a plan falls apart.

_ "Attack an enemy with precision and their allies will feel it." _

* * *

" _Open._ " 

With the hissed command, the locket did as it was told, pitch black smoke erupted from it, spewing all over the place. 

The smoke formed a man, one that made Harry's (unpolyjuiced) eyes widen in shock and the grip on the sword of Gryffindor loosen.

Sirius Black stared back at him, his eyes cold and features twisted in anger. 

**_"I don't know how you even managed to get this far,"_** The apparition spat. **_"You've led so many of your loved ones into danger, it's a miracle you haven't gotten them killed or died yourself. I mean honestly, you're so_** ** _incompetent it's a little funny! You fell for one of the easiest tricks in the book! And look what ended up happening, I'm dead."_** The twisted version of Sirius shook his head in disgust. **_"James and Lily would be so disappointed."_**

"Harry," Remus said, grabbing the boys arm and looking him in the eyes. "It's not true, you know that isn't what the real Sirius would say at all! He'd be proud of you, so would Lily and James, they loved you, son." 

Dumbledore stepped next to him as well. 

"He's right m'boy, we're _all_ so very proud of the man you've become, and we know you can do this." He said.

The smokey form shifted into multiple different people, from Moody telling him he'd never measure up, Mrs. Weasley blaming him for the death of her children, his parents expressing their disapproval of him, Vernon rubbing it in his face that he was right all along. None were as bad as the last one though. 

A evil looking Hermione stood before him, a condescending look on her face. 

**_"You just can't do anything right can you? Can't help the Order, can't save the ones you love, certainly can't see when someone throws you easy hints. You're a failure, Harry, just face it."_ **

The _real_ Hermione stared wide-eyed at her horcrux created counterpart, before looking to Harry. She grabbed his hand, and that said so much more than any words she could possibly speak. Instantly, he looked determined, and letting go of her hand, proceeded to raise the sword high above his head. Not giving out a primal yell or saying a one liner, but swinging it down with a purpose, ending it all. Horcrux Hermione stared at him in fear, before disappearing into nothingness. 

After a few moments of silence, save for Harry's heavy breathing, Dumbledore put his hand on the boy's shoulder consolingly. 

"I have never been more proud, Harry, we are one step closer to defeating Lord Voldemort." 

Harry nodded, shoulders sagging in relief a bit.

* * *

It was now December thirty-first, and the residents of Grimmauld Place were gearing up for a bit of a New Years Eve party of sorts. 

Ron was back on his feet, the Burrow was still being repaired so the Weasley's still remained here, Arthur commenting that they could now start fresh.

"Honestly the way that old house was built, it's a miracle it didn't just topple over on its own." He had said.

Lights were strung up all over the place and music was playing, there was even an old muggle television set brought in so the group could count down the new year with the rest of Great Britain. Grimmauld Place felt more alive than ever before, and it showed in the people. Despite a war looming over their heads, they all had smiles plastered across their faces. 

Tonks was regaling stories of quite hilarious mishaps in her days as a trainee Auror to Ginny, with Moody making grumpy remarks to the ones that included him. Ron and Harry were engrossed in a game of chess, one that the latter seemed to be losing spectacularly at, Remus had an inscrutable look on his face as he watched them play. Harry himself had been quite happy after destroying the horcrux a few days back, Hermione suspected it had to do with the kind words of Dumbledore and Remus. Wether the two older men knew it or not, they were parental figures to Harry. Molly and Arthur were great, and Harry definitely needs a mother figure, but it was obvious that their words meant the world to him. 

"Knut for your thoughts?" Two voices said from behind her.

Fred and George stood there, twin cheshire grins on their faces. 

"We see you've been spending an awful lot of time with our little Harrykins recently." Fred stated, idly glancing at the boy in question.

"And staring at him." George remarked. 

Her face burned at their antics, knowing they had a point. Not that she'd ever admit it.

"Not that we can blame you, blokes bloody handsome." The twins said simultaneously. 

"Please, stop." She begged, face palming. 

"Well," George began. "Far be it for us to tell the brightest witch of her age what to do..."

"But we reckon you should _make your move_." Fred said suggestively, waggling his eyebrows. 

"Before our darling sister does."

Sure enough, looking up, Ron and Harry were done with their chess game, music was blaring louder before and a few people were dancing. By the dining table, were Ginny and Harry. The former was laughing and had her hand expertly placed on the latter's leg. 

Something ugly set in her stomach, jealousy. Hermione felt it before with Ron and Lavender, but this felt ten times worse. The idea of someone else, even if it was Ginny, putting the moves on Harry didn't sit right with her. 

Steeling herself, Hermione got up and marched over to where the other two were sitting, barely registering the twins low chuckles. It seemed to be in good timing too, as Harry looked uncomfortable and Ginny looked quite grumpy. 

"Harry," She called out over the music. "Would you like to come with me to get Kreacher? I believe we should give him the locket now before we forget."

His instantaneous look of relief was comical, and she would have laughed had it not been rude to do so. 

Harry nodded and bid Ginny goodbye, the younger girl looking anywhere but at them. 

"Thank you." He muttered to her when they left the party area. 

"What happened in there?" She asked him as they ascended the stairs up to Harry's room.

He seemed to get even more uncomfortable at this, "Well, er, she told me her feelings towards me."

Hermione was quite proud of herself to not panic at these words, clearly his reaction was not a pleasant one, at least for Ginny, anyway.

"I don't feel the same way in the end, I feel really bad honestly, but it's not exactly my fault I suppose." 

She nodded in agreement, "I was going to ask you to dance, but that might have been a little rude."

Harry laughed at this, "Yeah, probably."

Once the locket was with them, they went back to Kreacher's cupboard. 

The elf himself thanked Harry profusely, clutching the broken locket to his tiny chest, bawling his eyes out and sniffling. 

"Kreacher, do you want a larger room? This cupboard isn't very spacious." Harry proposed. 

Kreacher shook his head madly, "Master is too kind, but Kreacher is undeserving of such a thing." 

"Well why do you think that?" Hermione asked incredulously. 

Harry merely shook his head at her, "There's no point 'Mione." He turned to Kreacher once again, "Just remember that the offer will always be there okay?" 

Kreacher nodded, and so they let him be, deciding to return to the festivities. 

"I'm tempted to take up your offer on that dance," Harry stated slyly when they arrived back downstairs. "Pick up where we left off?" 

Hermione turned pink at his words, remembering _exactly_ where they left off. She was saved from answering due to a commotion in the dining room. 

The music was off and everyone was staring at the fireplace. 

Severus Snape stood there, covered in soot and blood. In fact, he was bleeding quite terribly from a gash on his forehead. He seemed to notice their arrival, as he looked Harry in the eyes. 

"He knows."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are always appreciated, it’s what gives me motivation to write more!


	10. Vanishing Grace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A long rivalry dies, life moves on.

_"I struggled for a long time with survivin'."_

* * *

"Potter! Hurry it up!" 

Harry hated this part of the day. 

Ever since the incident that happened on new years, Harry had been the one made to deliver Snape's meals, as the greasy git was bed ridden due to his injuries. Which meant he was more irritable than ever. Joy. 

It was more serious than that, Harry loathed to admit. Voldemort _did_ know the jig was up so to speak, which meant more danger for them. Harry could only hope that Dumbledore had a plan.

When he finally opened the door, tray of food swaying in one hand, Snape merely scoffed at him. 

"Took you long enough." 

At least this was the last day of break.

"You could be a little more appreciative y'know." Harry remarked. 

Snape scoffed again, sitting up on the bed to receive his food, "Of what? Something you could have gotten that repulsive little elf of yours to do?" 

Harry rolled his eyes, they'd had this conversation before. 

"Kreacher's too afraid to go near you after what you did." He reminded the potions master. 

Snape had attacked Kreacher in a haze not too long after arriving, as Harry had tried to get the elf to help him, believing it to be one of the Malfoy's many servants. 

"A clear misunderstanding," He said after swallowing some food. "I do not see the problem." 

Harry chuckled at the professor's antics.

"Something the matter, Potter?" 

He shook his head, "No professor, it's just the whole situation is a bit absurd to me, serving you dinner in your pyjama's and what not." 

"I'm so glad you find my state hilarious, Potter." Snape grounded out.

Harry narrowed his eyes at the older man, anger boiling up inside him, "That's not what I meant and you know it, why must you always pick a fight with me?" 

"You insolent child, I do not need to explain my actions to you." He growled.

"You see?" Harry exclaimed, pointing at the other man. "That right there is what I'm talking about, all these years I accepted your hatred without questions, giving just as good as I got in class." He was on a role now, pacing in front of the bemused potions master. "My dad was a bully, and a right git, I know that. But if you had paid any attention over the six years you've taught me, you'd know that I'm nothing like him, save my appearance and Quidditch talent." 

Snape made to interrupt, but Harry was too quick.

"Did you just wilfully ignore it? Did you even bother asking Dumbledore how I was raised? Who I was left with? They left me with the Dursley's! For eleven years I slaved away for them, punished for things beyond my control, sometimes even going entire days without meals!" Harry ranted. "I'm sick of this constant back and forth, and quite frankly, I'm tired of hating you." 

Harry had no idea where this had all come from, but he suspected a week with the irritable man had brought Harry to his limit. 

Snape looked speechless, something that surprised Harry too. 

"I... I had no idea you'd been left with Petunia." Snape admitted. 

_And here I was being surprised at my outburst._

"You know my aunt?" He asked, incredulously. "Wait, does that mean you knew my mum too?"

"Yes I know that horrid woman." Snape said. "And yes, I knew your mother as well, we were friends in school." 

Harry just stared blankly back at the greasy man.

"You'll forgive me for being a little unbelieving."

Snape rolled his eyes at him dramatically, "Hush, Potter. I suppose it did not occur to me about your differences with James. Perhaps I didn't want to know, perhaps it was easier for me to blindly hate you." It looked as if it physically pained the man to admit this. "I guess I owe you an.... apology, Potter." 

Harry's eyes widened in shock, was he serious?

"I, er, don't know what to say, sir."

Snape barely paid him any mind, "I believe there's not much for you to say."

Harry simply nodded, deciding now it was a good time to take his leave. However, just as he put his hand on the door knob, Snape spoke up one last time.

"You have your mother's eyes."

He'd heard it all before, but coming out of Snape it sounded like it was from a rare place of warmth that he couldn't place. 

"I know." Harry replied softly, before leaving the room.

* * *

The goodbyes shared on the platform before they returned for Hogwarts were heartfelt, Mrs. Weasley hugged Harry so hard it was difficult to breathe, Mad-Eye reminded him about his training, practically ordering him to use the room of requirement to his fullest advantage. Remus hugged him warmly too, and an indescribable feeling welled within Harry, one that brought too many emotions that he wasn't willing to dwell on at the moment. 

Despite all this, the looming threat of the war all hung over them. Snape had been found out, meaning any spying he had been doing would continue no longer, putting the Order at a severe disadvantage. The thought of this had given Harry the idea to question the potions master about Malfoy's plan, but unfortunately their shocking heart to heart happened the night before they had to leave, taking over any thought he had of Draco's plans. He had planned to ask Dumbledore anyway, and ask him Harry would. 

The train ride was quite uneventful, Harry was left alone at the start due to Ron and Hermione having their prefect patrols, but he was quickly joined by Neville and Luna, and the three of them chatted about nothing in particular.

It was only when Harry had returned to Hogwarts that he realized something was afoot. Scanning the Slytherin table, Harry could not find the near platinum blonde hair of Draco Malfoy. It wasn't _too_ uncommon for him to skip meals before the break, but missing the return feast? It was strange, maybe Harry was overreacting, only one way to find out.

He asked Hermione, of course.

"Yes I noticed that too," She admitted, also looking at the Slytherin table. "But it's not all that weird right?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders noncommittally, unsure of what to make of it. 

"I'll check the map when we go back to our dorms." He said.

That was that, Dumbledore gave a small speech, everyone ate, and then retreated to the dorms for classes the next day. It felt easy, _too_ easy. Snape had been found _out_ for Merlin's sake, whatever was going on felt _wrong._ Something surely had to be up, why was Draco not being carted off to Azkaban already?

When he returned to his dorm, Harry's worst fears were confirmed, for when he checked the Marauder's Map, Draco's name did not appear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I find myself nervous about the Snape and Harry reconciliation, but the idea popped into my head and wouldn't leave me alone. Hopefully I wrote it well.


	11. Call It Fate, Call It Karma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "We're in the endgame now."

"Laffy Taffy!"

Harry yelled out the password and was already at the door of his Headmaster's office before the statue could even hop back into place. 

"Enter." Came Dumbledore's voice. 

As he entered, Harry was surprised to see Snape in the office as well. 

The man himself, rolled his eyes at Harry. 

"Oh don't look at me like that, Potter, I'm perfectly capable of coming in. Besides, this is important." Snape said.

Dumbledore watched the exchange with a small smile, before speaking. 

"Hello Harry, you have impeccable timing, I was just about to send for you." 

Dumbfounded, Harry responded, "You were?"

The old wizard nodded, "But of course, I have something to tell you m'boy, and something to ask of you." Dumbledore's face darkened at this, "Firstly, I must ask you for your forgiveness, I have not been entirely truthful to you, and for that, I apologize. You see, I have known about Mr. Malfoy's mission all along, no doubt this is what you were coming here to tell me about?"

At Harry's nod, Dumbledore continued.

"Well then I'm sure you've also noticed his absence, Severus was just telling me about this fact." The headmaster leaned forward in his seat more, steepling his fingers together. "This is quite alarming, as we do not know exactly _what_ he's doing, his removal from Hogwarts is worrying."

 _An understatement._ Harry thought darkly, and judging by the look on Snape's face, they shared the same opinion.

Dumbledore didn't miss either of these looks, "Yes, well, I must ask of you now, to tell me what you know about his illicit activities."

"He was doing something in the room of requirement." Harry told the professor. 

"Interesting... one could do many things in that room, and we'd have no way of knowing what it was."

"Not exactly, Headmaster." Snape drawled. "Both Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Goyle returned for the rest of term unlike Mr. Malfoy. I believe we should question them as well, I assume they were complicit in his mission?" 

The last part was directed at Harry, and he quickly answered. 

"Yeah I think so, were probably under polyjuice though, unless Malfoy's been getting friendly with first years." Harry told them, grossing himself out at his own wording. "I uh, didn't mean it like that." He clarified. 

"We will question them at once then," Dumbledore stated firmly. "Finally, Harry, Slughorn's memory is no longer important, as our excursion to the ministry has proven enough." Rising from his chair, the headmaster indicated the door. "Let us go, ideally we can nip this in the bud, so to speak." 

He didn't look very optimistic.

* * *

Harry was getting frustrated. 

He had been trying to get the room to open up to him, to show him _something_ , but the bloody thing wouldn't budge. Their attempts to get information from Crabbe and Goyle proved fruitless, as neither of the Slytherin boys knew what Draco was doing in the room, only that they were to be his lookout. They wouldn't know what Draco was asking the room either, because he only needed to think it. Strangely, Pansy Parkinson was no where to be found during the questioning, despite being seen at the return feast. 

This was getting him nowhere, he had tried everything he could think of, none of it was working.

Harry continued to pace back and forth, _I need to see what Draco Malfoy is doing, I need to see what Draco Malfoy is doing, I nee-."_

"Hello Harry." 

"Bloody hell!" He exclaimed, whipping out his wand only to see a slightly scared Luna. 

"Sorry!" They both said at the same time. 

"I didn't mean to scare you, Harry." Luna apologized.

He waved it off, "S'fine, Luna." 

"What are you doing pacing here?" She asked him.

"Er, well I'm trying to get into the room of requirement, but it won't open for me." 

Just as Harry said that he slapped his forehead, "I'm such an idiot! The room won't open because someones already in it!" 

A sudden, scary thought hit him. 

"The room doesn't appear on the map," He muttered quietly to himself. "It's unplottable."

The realization of that implication hit him like a ton of bricks, "Luna, please go find Dumbledore or Snape, tell them it's urgent." 

To Luna's credit, she hesitated for only a second, before doing as he asked. 

_Draco could be in there right now, under all of our noses!_

Harry waited for what seemed like an eternity, hearing all sorts of strange noises from the other side, including what he _swore_ was someone whooping hysterically. Eventually, both Dumbledore and Snape arrived, without Luna. 

"What have you found?" Dumbledore asked. 

Before Harry could even answer, a door began to form for the room. 

"But how?" Harry wondered aloud. "It wouldn't open before?"

"I fear the answer may not be a pleasant one." Dumbledore stated. "Wands at the ready now."

When the knob for the door finally materialized, Harry twisted it warily. What greeted the trio upon entry was a mass of junk, there was no other word for it, just a collage of anything and everything. He could see a mountain of chairs and books in one corner, as well as a frighteningly larger mountain of an assortment of rags, candy wrappings, and random furniture. Harry could feel a strange pull towards what seemed to be the middle of the mess.

There was a diadem, precariously placed on the end of what seemed to be a table, Harry couldn't exactly tell as it was swallowed by the mess around it. He could hear whispers, growing steadily louder as he approached it, _begging_ for him to grab it, to put it on. And Harry knew he just _had_ to have it, he _needed_ it.

"Potter!" 

Snape's voice snapped him out of it, and Harry turned to look at what he was looking at. It was a rather thin looking cabinet, with a triangular shaped top. 

"What is it?" He asked. 

"A vanishing cabinet, no doubt we just missed a daring escape on the part of Mr. Malfoy." Snape replied. "The question is, why now of all times, and how-"

Whatever he was going to say, Snape abruptly stopped as he stared at something behind Harry. 

When Harry turned to look at whatever Snape saw, his eyes widened in horror as Dumbledore had his blackened and dying hand outstretched to grab the diadem Harry had been drawn to earlier. In his manic need for the object, Harry must have missed Dumbledore seeing it as well.

Both Harry and Snape shouted out a resounding, "NO!" 

But it was too late, Professor Dumbledore had already grabbed the object, and when he did, howled out in pain. Student and teacher were by the headmaster's side in an instant.

Dumbledore was knocked out cold, and the two of them tried desperately to help him. 

_"Reneverate."_ Harry tried to no avail. 

Snape also tried to wake Dumbledore up, muttering, " _Surgit."_

This too, did not work, and despite further attempts to revive the older wizard, nothing did the trick. 

They would have kept trying too, if not for loud banging coming from the cabinet. Diadem forgotten, both wizards still conscious kept their wands warily trained at the magical object.

The door creaked slightly, and some fumbling could be heard, before the door opened, and a lithe female form stepped out, dressed in black, with wild dark hair. 

Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Hello, boys. Shall we start the party?"


	12. Shattered Dreams

_ "Sometimes a man's best work is what puts him in the grave." _

* * *

Spell's flew as Bellatrix quickly dived out of the way behind a mountain of junk, leading the two wizard's on a chase throughout the maze like room. All the while laughing hysterically and screaming taunts at them. 

"Head back, Potter!" Snape yelled as they ran, "I will deal with Bella, you must get the headmaster out of here." 

_Yeah, like that'll bloody happen._

Harry charged ahead, easily out speeding the older man, ignoring his calls for him to slow down. 

_"I killed Sirius Black! I killed Sirius Black!_ " Bellatrix taunted in a sing song voice. "You comin' to get me?" 

The two of them weaved through piles of trash and furniture, trading spells back and forth. For every _Stupefy!_ Harry cast, it was met with an equally emphatic _Avada Kedavra!_

He vaguely wondered if Snape was still following, and for how long Harry himself could keep this up for.

"Come on Potty! Hit me with your best shot." Belatrix cackled.

" _Crucio!"_

Belatrix yelped as one of Harry's spells finally connected, bouncing off a turned over table and smacking the ground shoulder first, her wand clattering a few feet away. When he approached her, she regarded him in mild surprise. 

"Didn't think you had it in you," Bellatrix said breathily, slightly backing up into her wand with every passing second. "I'm impressed, Potter." 

"I'm sure you are, _Bella._ " He mocked. 

She narrowed her eyes angrily at him, "If you value your life, you'll never call me that again." 

" _Incarcerous._ " He said, trying to end this quickly.

Bellatrix was too quick though, wand already in hand shooting out a cutting curse to stop the ropes. 

"Got to do better than that." She remarked, rolling away and shooting out several other nonverbal curses, a few Harry didn't even recognize.

Everything else disappeared around him as he duelled Voldemort's second in command. She was quite fierce, and unsurprisingly good with her wand. The two of them couldn't be more different, his face a practiced calm, her's a psychotic grin. Thanks to his training with Mad-Eye, Harry was able to hold his own, which kept aggravating Bellatrix further. 

"You're lucky the Dark Lord wants you to himself, otherwise I'd end you here." She said, dodging a spell Harry sent her way in an attempt to catch her off guard. "See you soon!" 

With that, she sprinted once again, dipping in and out between the junk piles scattered throughout the room, he lost sight of her almost immediately. 

_She let me chase her away on purpose, if she really wanted to lose me, she could have._

This line of thought brought him to a scary conclusion. Harry raced back to where the chase began, only to see an unmoving Snape slumped against a drawer, and Dumbledore's body missing. 

Panicking, he quickly checked the potion's master for a pulse, and when he found one, breathed out in relief. 

" _Re_ _neverate."_ Harry said. 

Snape awoke with a groan, rubbing his forehead.

"Where's Dumbledore?" Harry asked.

With a hint of grudging admiration in his voice, Snape answered. 

"More Death Eaters showed up through the cabinet as I returned for him, I was losing badly when he woke up, he led them away." He got up and brushed himself off. "I would admonish you for ignoring a _direct order,_ but we don't have time. Hogwarts is under siege."

"Does the Order know?" Harry inquired, as the two of them left the room, diadem forgotten where it fell.

"I have no idea," Snape admitted. "We can only hope that the students are in their dormitories, our first priority must be to stop the attack." 

That's when they found the body.

Terry Boot from Ravenclaw laid motionless in the middle of the hallway, head to one side, eyes still open and unblinking. 

Snape knelt down next to the boy, and checked for a pulse. After a moment however, he shook his head dejectedly. 

"Listen to me, Potter. Go back to your dorm-"

"No." Harry stated angrily. "I will not be left on the sidelines like a child, I'm-"

"Silence!" Snape demanded. "Do not interrupt me you dolt, go back to your dorm and retrieve Granger and Weasley, I suspect we'll need all the help we can get." 

Harry stared at Snape with wide eyes, not expecting it to go this way. 

"Go!"

As he ran in the opposite direction, Harry could have sworn he heard Snape murmur, " _Expecto Patronum."_

He didn't dare look back.

* * *

This was ridiculous.

Dozens of eyes stared at him as he stood in the portrait hole, ready to leave with Ron and Hermione. 

"What was the point of all that training then? Or were all those just words to you?"

Neville Longbottom of all people stood his ground, demanding to be allowed to help. He had gathered a few supporters too, as Lavender, Sheamus, Dean, Ginny, Colin Creevey, and Parvati were on their feet next to him. 

"Snape only told me to grab these two." Harry tried to explain, indicating to his two best friends and also wondering why he was defending Snape.

"Since when have you cared what that git says, Harry?" Sheamus said incredulously. 

"Yeah, if Death Eaters are here then we want to fight!" Dean agreed. 

"Believe me, if I was in your position I'd want to as well, but-" 

"Bollocks!" Sheamus cried. 

"Shut it!" Hermione yelled. "Did any of you stop to think that if we brought all of the higher years with us, that any lone Death Eater could sneak in here and wipe out the rest of our house?!" She glared menacingly at each of them. "Well? Did you?" 

One by one the little group shook their heads, looking defeated.

"Then it's settled, stay behind, defend the house." She practically growled out.

Harry thought she was being a little harsh, but they honestly had no time to debate further.

"Blimey," Ron muttered as they left. "I'm never getting into another argument with you for as long as I live." 

Hermione tried not to, but she couldn't stop a small smile from forming. 

"A very wise decision."

The trio reached the Great Hall rather quickly, finding not a single soul on their way there, they soon found out why.

There was a huge battle happening in the hall, the Order had shown up, and were able to keep Voldemort's followers momentarily at bay. Tonks duelled with Antonin Dolohov, Moody with another blonde haired Death Eater, Mr. Weasley, Snape, Professor McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Elphias Doge, and Professor Flitwick were all also engaged in duels scattered across the hall. Harry was only searching for two people, and he could see one of them easily enough. Albus Dumbledore currently held off five combatants of his own, Harry recognized one of them as Bellatrix, the other four, he did not know. The other person, was Remus, and he saw him duelling what Harry assumed to be Fenrir Greyback, if the mess of hair and claw like hands were anything to go by. 

This was _good_ , the Order was here, they would surely win.

And then it all went terribly, terribly wrong. 

While a few Death Eaters fell, many more Order members did instead, even when the trio joined the battle, they were still not enough, as _more_ of Voldemort's followers joined the battle. Hestia was hit straight in the face by an all too familiar green spell, McGonagall was sent flying, Remus was slammed _through_ the Hufflepuff table by Greyback, Harry also saw Elphias have his arm severed from his body by a terrifying purple curse, and Moody's wooden leg be blown to smithereens. 

The most depressing of all these, was Dumbledore's fight. He was quite possibly the strongest wizard in the last decade, but he was past his prime, and his hand weakened him severely. So when he was brought down to his knees, only Bellatrix remaining from their five on one fight, Harry felt _scared._ He tried to help of course, but he was blasted back by three different Death Eaters, his head smacking off the bench of one of the house tables. Harry looked around desperately, to see if someone, _anyone_ could help the headmaster. Dumbledore couldn't just _die_! But there was nobody, the Order members still alive and conscious were barely hanging on. Ron and Hermione were fighting off Greyback, desperately trying to keep him away from Remus' prone body. 

Harry looked on, unable to move, as Bellatrix spoke to Dumbledore, gloating in her victory. He could not hear her words, but it did not matter. Dumbledore paid her no mind, only looking straight at Harry, tears in his eyes, _smiling_ at him. 

And so, Harry watched in horror as a flash of green made his beloved teacher and friend slump over, alive no longer. 


	13. And It Rained All Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dark days are ahead, but our survivors hold out hope.

_"I guess I... I'm afraid."_

* * *

His head hurt. 

That was about the only coherent thought Harry could form right now, thinking of other things would just bring back the pain. He had just woken up, and was currently groping around for his glasses, when he finally found them, Harry was in his own bed at Grimmauld Place, he was also delighted to see a sleeping Hermione seated at his bedside. 

"Oh joy, you're awake." A voice drawled. 

Harry turned to see Severus Snape standing in the doorway, looking at him with amusement in his eyes. 

"How long was I out for?" Harry asked, running a hand through his hair. 

"Barely over a day, I'm sure for Granger here it felt like much more than that." Snape remarked. 

Harry's cheeks turned out slightly pink, and Snape scoffed at him, "How much do you remember?"

He observed Harry, as the boy blew out a shaky breath, "All of it." Harry replied. "I remember all of it. Did we... get the bodies?"

Snape shook his head, "There was no time, we barely got out in the first place." 

Harry lowered his head, barely holding back tears. "What's going to happen now?"

Snape sighed as he regarded the boy in front of him, "Now we put all of our other Order controlled buildings under the Fidelius charm, and plan our next move. We don't plan on twiddling our thumbs this time, Potter. In a day or two we'll be selecting a new leader for the Order, you're expected to be there."

"Me?" Harry asked, confused. 

The other man rolled his eyes, "Yes, you. Despite Molly's reservations, the rest of us consider you a member, as well as Granger and Weasley."

At this, Hermione stirred, somehow hearing her name in her sleep. 

Snape took this as his cue to leave, "I shall leave you to it, but come downstairs in a bit, Lupin's been going spare. Now that you're awake he'll want to see you." And with a billow of his cape, he was gone. 

"Harry!" 

He barely had a chance to react as he was met with a fierce hug from Hermione, Harry quickly caught on and put his arms around her. 

"You're awake." She mumbled into his chest. 

"That I am." He agreed cheekily. 

Hermione pulled away slightly but still stayed in his arms, "I was worried."

"One would think you'd get used to it by now." He joked.

"One would be _wrong._ " She responded seriously. 

"Right," He said. "Sorry."

Hermione sighed, "It's okay, you can make it up to me."

Harry raised an eyebrow at her, "Oh yeah? How d'you reckon?"

"By picking up where we left off." 

Deciding to play it cool, he said, "You want to dance? Like right now? I feel like I might fall over 'Mione."

"I'd smack you to make a point, but I don't want to make things worse." She said, grinning at him. "Kiss me, you prat." 

He did, and suffice to say, it was _magical_.

* * *

When the two arrived downstairs, grinning madly and holding hands, the whole house knew what was up. Tonks and the Weasley twins gave them knowing grins, while the others looked happy enough. Nobody looked as ecstatic as Ron though, his face clearly saying " _I knew it!"_

While it was a nice moment, it really put into perspective how messed up the wizarding world truly was now, Hogwarts was taken over, and Ginny remained at school. 

Before they could discuss anything, Harry was engulfed in his second bear hug of the day, this time, by Remus. 

"I'm so glad you're okay, Harry." He said. 

"I'm glad _you're_ okay." Harry told him. "I saw you get put through a table." 

Pulling away, Remus responded, "Yes, well, I'm still quite sore honestly." 

"How did we even get out of there?" Harry asked. 

"Well... it seems that when.. when Albus died, the wards went too. Almost the school itself died with him." Remus answered. 

"I just wish we could have gotten the body." Mrs. Weasley said from behind Remus. "We left poor Hestia and Elphias behind too." 

"There's so very little of us now," Professor McGonagall muttered sadly. "Even less than before." 

This was when Harry got a good look at the remaining members of the Order. Tonks, Remus, Mrs. Weasley, McGonagall, Mr. Weasley, Ron, the twins, were all here, as well as Professor Flitwick, which surprised him. Although, Harry probably shouldn't have been surprised as he was in the fight at Hogwarts as well, and would likely be killed on sight if he returned. 

Remus, catching on to what Harry was doing, elaborated. 

"Mad-Eye's gone to collect Bill and Fleur, Charlie's let us know that he's on his way to England, and Kingsley went to get Andromeda and Ted." 

"My parents." Tonks chimed in helpfully. 

"Unfortunately we can't get Sturgis, as he's still in Azkaban from last year, and I doubt they'd release a known Order member to us." Remus said. 

"You mean, Voldemort's taken over the ministry?" Harry asked incredulously. 

Remus sighed, "Lucius Malfoy has been named Minister for magic, shortly after we escaped. It was a calculated attack, the Auror's had been called to Hogwarts, so most of them were away." He looked so _defeated._ "Rufus stood no chance. They've made Yaxley head Auror, gutted the department of mysteries and gave Umbridge a whole lot of power." 

He led Harry to a seat at the dining table, "Now no doubt Severus has told you that in a day or two we'll be selecting a new leader for the Order." At Harry's nod he continued. "There will never be a replacement for Albus, and a few of us believe we need a new figurehead, but we want your opinion on it." 

"On what, exactly?" Harry asked, confused. 

"On whether there _should_ be a leader in the first place." Remus answered. 

"What else would you suggest instead?" 

"Well _I_ was thinking of a more council based thing, perhaps a few of us, making the bigger decisions instead of one person." Remus explained. 

Harry shrugged his shoulders, "That sounds like the smarter decision. Who would be in this 'council'?" 

Remus was about to tell him when the cry of a phoenix loudly reverberated throughout the room, soon after, a burst of flames materialized in the middle of the table. Fawkes appeared, staring intently at Harry, before bowing its head. 

"I... I don't understand." Harry said, looking at the beautiful bird in awe. 

"I believe..." Snape drawled. "We've had our leader chosen for us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have reached the end of the story. I thank all those who have stuck around so far, and I hope you all enjoyed. For those concerned about unanswered questions, rest assured, there will be a sequel. That being said, I'm planning on taking a little break before starting another fic I've been pretty excited about. There will be one more chapter but that's merely a list of sorts for all the musical, video game, and movie references I've made in this fic, if anyone's interested in that. Thank you all for your support, and I can't wait to return to this journey.


	14. Reference List

This is a list of all the references made in this fic, whether it be musical, video games, or movies. 

**Musical References (in order):**

Heart Don't Stand A Chance by Anderson. Paak

Get It Together by Drake, ft Jorja Smith

Almost (Sweet Music) by Hozier (the quote at the beginning is from the same song)

Dive by Ed Sheeran 

The Mint by Earl Sweatshirt, ft Navy Blue (quote for chapter 4)

Life Is Simple in the Moonlight by The Strokes

Demons by Joji

Wake Up by Travis Scott, ft The Weeknd

Vanishing Grace from The Last Of Us OST by Gustavo Santaolalla

Call It Fate, Call It Karma by The Strokes

Shattered Dreams by Earl Sweatshirt

And It Rained All Night by Thom Yorke

**Movie References**

The quote from Chapter 5 comes from Thomas Wayne in Batman Begins (2005)

The quote from Chapter 7 comes from Dr. Loomis in Halloween (1978)

There is a quote in the summary of Chapter 11 spoken by Dr. Strange in Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

**Video Game References**

The quote from Chapter 6 is from Dead By Daylight, for the perk "Bloodhound"

The title of Chapter 8, "Quick & Quiet" is a perk from Dead By Daylight

The quote from Chapter 8 is from Dead By Daylight, for the perk "Overcharge"

The title of Chapter 9, "Bitter Murmur" is a perk from Dead By Daylight

The quote from Chapter 9 is from Dead By Daylight, for the perk "Blood Echo"

The quote from Chapter 10 is from The Last Of Us and is said by Joel

The quote from Chapter 12 is from Dead By Daylight, for the perk "Gearhead"

The quote from Chapter 13 is from Red Dead Redemption 2, and is spoken by Arthur Morgan

I don't know if putting this all out there makes me seem less original or not, but all of these helped me set the tone (most of the time) for the chapters, and I love all these mediums so... bite me, lol.


End file.
